Voidworn
by CheckerboardCheshire
Summary: Au where Frisk is transformed into a void-skeleton thing due to Gaster's incompetence. Suspicious Flowey is suspicious flower. -Rated T for Body horror and possible swears-
1. Slipping through the Void's fingers

**Yay for random AUs!**  
W.D Gaster sat stewing in his thoughts. How many children had fallen? How long had it been since he had fallen into the core? He couldn't help but wonder what became of his work after the fall, no one remembered him right? As he thought, he felt the presence of a familiar substance. Determination and lots of it. A human was standing at the edge of a large pit, peering down into the opening. They looked frightened, and intrigued. Gaster couldn't help but wonder if he could persuade the human's fall to come early. If he altered the human's fate what might happen? What if he were to obtain the child's soul? His cracked smile grew as the idea of possessing a human soul sat in his mind. He wound himself through the code until he thought he would be able to intercept their soul, he watched and waited.

-Frisk view-  
Frisk peered into the dark cave completely entranced by the various echoes they could make and how the pebble they'd tossed hadn't hit the ground yet. They felt cold suddenly, almost as if someone was breathing on their back. They turned suddenly but nobody was there. A slight tug was felt at their feet as they slipped and began their fall, as the air stole their adrenaline powered yell. Their thoughts spun around, jumbled and lost as they continued their descent. Their fall lasted for what seemed like forever, until they made contact(?) with a floor of some sort. It had slowed their fall but wasn't a lifesaver. Instead a tall figure stood grinning at the edge of the dark haze.  
 _"Hello child."_ Frisk felt their heart leap into their throat at the creature's eerily calm demeanor. The creature approached and lifted a skeletal hand.  
" _Goodbye."_ Frisk felt a searing pain rip through their body as something tore at their soul. Desperately clawing at the determination and anything it could get a hold of. They felt like their skin was melting, peeling, burning off in corroded chunks. Frisk didn't want this! Frisk didn't want to die! Frisk was determined not to die! They felt the searing goo slip off and saw the creature recoil as they fell past the code, and descended into the darkness below.  
-Gaster view- How did this happen?! He was this close to the soul! Determination hadn't ever hurt him like this right? At least not while he was alive... bah! It made no sense. He'd have to pay closer attention to this... new thing. He growled to himself and receded into the code.  
-back to Frisk-  
They woke up somewhat dizzy and disoriented. What just happened? Their body burned with pain of an unnatural intensity and they groaned from the splitting headache as they attempted to process the situation. They, Frisk, had climbed Mt ebott in search of adventure and escape from their family reunion. They fell in and a creature(man?) had caught them and attempted to kill them...the goo? They remembered the intense pain they had felt and their skin...burning? But they weren't dead right? They attempted getting up and looking where they'd fallen. A pile of flowers, no dead body or bloodstains. They slapped their face, yep still felt a bit of pain but, was that a clattering sound? It echoed off the walls and Frisk got the feeling that they weren't alone. They got up and walked to what appeared to be a doorway on the far side of the room. As they walked through it they felt a wave a determination pass over them and they walked along the dark path until they reached a second pile of flowers. With a surprise sitting in the middle.  
-flowey view-  
It had been a long time since anyone new had been in the Ruins besides Toriel, so a small skeletal child approaching him surprised him quite a bit. He reacted instantly.  
"Who are you?!" The child flinched, obviously not expecting the flower's outburst. Flowey silently cursed his hotheadedness and called out in a more friendly and manipulative tone.  
"I'm sorry, you just scared me...you're not from around here are'ya?" The child's eyes bubbled with naive trust as they nodded vigorously. Flowey smiled, a new person just meant a new plaything in his eyes he attempted to coax the seemingly silent skelly into a false safety.  
"Golly!" He said, a smile nearly splitting his petals in sickening sweetness.  
"Someone aught to teach ya how things work around here! I guess little old me will have to do." The familiar *ting* sounded as the fight was activated and he surveyed his opponent.  
"That heart is your soul, the very culmination of...your...being?" His voice cracked as his rehearsed lines fell apart at the sight of the child's soul. Instead of a white monster soul sitting in front of him, a reddish HUMAN soul tangled with purple threads hovered anxiously. His facade dropped almost entirely.  
"Why do you have that?!" He asked, his voice was filled with malice and a twinge of fear. How did this child get a human soul?! They obviously hadnt absorbed it or they would be extremely powerful. What if they were?! Slight fear took over and he surrounded the child with his "friendliness pellets." He stuttered slightly.  
"N-no matter, you won't have it for long." The pellets closed in as the child curled up in fear.  
 _ **-author's note-**_  
 **Heya, I created this story to help me with my writers block for the other story I have since things haven't been going that well lately but, with this I can spend time on one story while my writers block dissolves for the other :D sorry it's taking so long for taken and changed thanks and let me know what you think! Don't be shy**  
 **-CheckerboardCheshire**


	2. A realization

I apologize for any mix ups, I did not know of another fanfic like this. I simply thought this up after a night of insomnia-fueled activities. I mean no disrespect to someone who may be creating a similar fanfic but I won't read said fanfic for fear that my subconscious may attempt to aliken the two. I am deeply sorry for this, thank you. Now that that is out of the way here's another installment.

Frisk was curled into a ball as the small pellets circled closer and closer. They had only been here for a few minutes and already they had been betrayed. They cried a bit, out of fear and the lingering pain they felt from the fall. They waited for the circling pellets to close in and end their life.  
-Flowey's view-  
The kid was curled up into a ball and the pellets approached somewhat slowly. Flowey hummed to calm his nerves, before the familiar heat of a fireball broke his concentration. He ducked underground instinctively and growled to himself. A mere setback to his plan all he needed to do was... *load failed* Flowey was perplexed, he tried again and again but it seemed he wasn't the one in control. He quickly moved back in time to see Toriel speaking to the child. Then it hit him, the child was determined. So determined that it surpassed his own. He needed to keep an eye on this child. A very close eye.  
-Frisk view-  
After a few seconds they felt a soft hand on their shoulder. They looked up to see a calm looking monster, staring down at them with patience.  
"Are you alright dear?" Frisk nodded slightly still wary of the previous encounter.  
"I am Toriel, keeper of the ruins." Toriel's smile helped lull the fear they had.  
"Child, if I may, what are you doing here in the Ruins? It's dangerous here." Frisk didn't exactly know how to respond, they weren't too sure why they were here. All they knew is that they were here. Or something like that. They could only hope that they'd be fine. They looked up at the goat like creature and simply didn't answer.  
"Do you have a family?" Frisk thought back to the reason they fell down in the first place and shook their head. Toriel seemed surprised somewhat and kneeled down to their height.  
"Well then, come along, we wouldn't want you to stay here alone would we?" Toriel took Frisk's arm and began to lead them through the ruins, introducing them to various monsters along the way and telling them about the puzzles that lay there. Frisk was distracted by the fact that none of the monsters seemed remotely frightened by them. There appeared to be no other humans, yet the strangest reaction they got was a whimsum running away. (And they were told whimsum did that to everyone) It didn't make sense at all. Toriel cleared her throat and caught their attention.  
"Here we are!" A small, cosy house sat at the end of the path. They were led inside and couldn't wait to explore, the house HAD to be full of all kinds of secrets but, that had to wait for now.  
"Come with me, my child. I have something for you." They found themselves being led down a short hallway towards a small door.  
"I hope you do not mind, my child. But I have a room you can stay in while you are here." Toriel opened the door revealing a small red room. It was decorated with multiple pictures,flowers, a bed, and shoes? Either way, it was nice and had a calming atmosphere. Toriel placed a small phone on the bed and smiled.  
"Here my child, I need to leave to get something. Use this if you need to contact me." Before frisk knew what they were saying, the words had already exited their mouth.  
"Thanks mom!" Toriel looked surprised, and Frisk instantly regretted what they said. They looked down at their feet in embarrassment, but found their blunder being greeted with kindness and acceptance.  
"Would that make you happy? To call me 'mother'?" Frisk nodded, still looking at the ground. Toriel walked over to Frisk and hugged them gently.  
"Alright my child, but I must go for a bit. Don't wander off too far alright?" Toriel exited the room leaving Frisk to their thoughts. They moved around the room, examining the flowers and hidden crevices. There appeared to be a lot of golden flowers, which made Frisk wary. They didn't need another Flowey the Flower to start "explaining" things again. They were quickly bored by the room and opened the door, they felt filled with determination at the thought of exploration of a new home, and they meandered down the hallway to what appeared to be Toriel's room. The door opened without much resistance, and they gazed around the bluer room. It seemed sadder. Like someone had cried more than slept but, Frisk didn't let that stop them. They glanced at the pages of Toriel's diary in embarrassment and lept onto her bed jumping around on the plush covers. It was a room fit for a king. But enough of that, there was still more to explore! They walked out of the room before spotting what appeared to be a skeleton peering at them. They raised their hand to wave at the child, only to see they did the same. Frisk thought of something unsettling and reached towards their forehead hoping to feel their brownish curly hair, instead their hand came into contact with a bony skull and they were met with the realization that the child looking at them through a window, was in fact them. Out of curiosity they felt around their skull, feeling the cracks that had formed from the top of their skull to their eye, from their jaw to their eye, and a small crevice that had appeared at the top of the skull.  
* _how did you get this way, you ponder_.  
Frisk thought about the first creature he'd seen falling down, the weird man who had said hello and goodbye so chillingly, Frisk had to wonder. Was this its fault? Or maybe the flower? No the flower had looked surprised right? Hmm... Frisk yawned, this new world,body, and home had taken the energy out of them. They began walking to their room, only to fall asleep on the floor almost instantaneously, slipping into sweet dreamland bliss.  
-Toriel's view-  
The trip had taken longer than she'd thought it would but, the look on the child's face would be worth it. She opened the door expecting some kind of greeting but, she received none.  
"My child?" She called out, slightly frightened that something had happened to them. Monsters didn't attack other monsters very often, but that flower, no that _weed_ could've snuck in while she was gone. She thrust the groceries aside and ran to the hallway, only to be greeted by the sight of the skelekid sleeping peacefully on the hardwood floor. She smiled and picked them up before noticing the cracks on their face. She attempted to heal the cracks but they seemed to deepen as she did so. She frowned, this would not do at all. Toriel placed them on her chair before walking to go get a roll of gauze. When she came back she focused on bandaging the cracks to her standards.  
"There," she mumbled to herself.  
"They should be okay for now." She picked them up and brought them to their room, moving aside the phone and turning off the light. As she tucked them in, she thought of what they'd said.  
"Thanks mom!" She smiled, it had been so long since she'd seen a child in the ruins, and she was happy she didn't have to worry about their soul, as monsters wouldn't have a use for it. She kissed their forehead and exited the room. Before she left however, she could've sworn she'd seen their bandages glow a dark purple.  
-Gaster view-  
The ex-queen had left the child unattended during her trip, and now they lay here. Alone, sleeping, VULNERABLE. Or at least they would be, if they didn't have as much damn determination. Gaster hissed in anger. The most he could do without getting burned is check their soul. Speaking of which. _**Frisk: ATK:0 DEF:0 the meddling human can't give up a soul.**_  
" _Interesting,_ " he mumbled,  
 _"The soul seems to be adapting to the void energy, I can't imagine this is comfortable. I need to leave, I can't sustain this any longer."_ Gaster dissipates into the void, leaving Frisk alone in their dreams.


	3. A new journey

**Why are you all being so nice to me? ;-; all this support is amazing**

Frisk woke up feeling well rested. They hadn't slept so comfortably in forever! They had to wonder why today of all days, would start out this way. They pushed themselves off of the bed and looked around, slowly recognizing the place. They remembered the fall, the creature, the flower, and Toriel. They looked at their hands, slowly processing their situation before noticing a pie sitting on the floor about 2 feet away. They picked it up, it was freshly baked with the smell of cinnamon-butterscotch still wafting from it. They noticed a small satchel hanging off of the bedpost. They pulled it off before shuffling through its contents. A piece of candy(with a distinct,non-licorice scent) a green and yellow sweater(not worn in years most likely) and a single, solitary flower petal stuck to the bottom. They tried on the striped sweater before hearing the clatter of silverware from the kitchen. Curious, they went to investigate the sound. Toriel was humming to herself as she cooked breakfast and didn't seem to notice Frisk.  
"Mom?" Toriel turned to see the skelechild looking up at her and she jumped a little, but not because of their presence.  
"O-oh hello my child. Did you have a restful sleep?" Frisk frowned, Toriel's reaction was strange to say the least, she seemed almost like she'd seen a ghost. Frisk chuckled to themself as they remembered their current situation. They brought their attention to the matter at hand and nodded, smiling (as much as a skeleton can) and hugged her tightly. She seemed surprised by the action, but returned the hug happily.  
"That's good my child," she smiled cheerfully as she spoke.  
"because I have many things planned for today." She pushed Frisk towards the table as she set out breakfast.  
"We can read books together, I will show you my favorite bug-hunting spot and you can even start learning." Frisk smiled at Toriel, she seemed so happy to have them here. They listened attentively.  
"This may come as a surprise to you, but I've always wanted to be a teacher." Somehow, Frisk wasn't all that surprised. They did wonder about the spiral staircase that occupied the entrance room. Toriel hadn't mentioned it, so they decided to bring it up.  
"Hey mom, where do the stairs lead?" She halted for a second.  
"Why do you want to know that my child?" Frisk felt their stomach drop, Toriel didn't want Frisk down there, that much was obvious.  
"I just, well, I want to know." She sighed  
"There is a hallway under the stairs, and the hallway leads to a door." Frisk blinked, that didn't seem all that interesting, why would she guard this?  
"Can I go through the door? Where does it lead?" She rubbed her forehead.  
"I...maybe... I need to think about this alright my child?"  
"Okay mom." Toriel left the room in a hurry, leaving Frisk to themself.  
-Toriel's view-  
Toriel walked into her room, the child had only just arrived and they already had her worried.  
'Calm down Tori," she thought  
"it won't be like the other children, they're a monster, a child. No one in their right mind would attack a child..." She sighed, she didn't want to lose another child, but she had a feeling she was overreacting. What kind of creature WOULD attack a child? But...just to be safe, she would have to test their strength. They would need to prove they could walk through the underground without anything happening. She thought back to the sweater they had worn. It startled her, almost made her think a certain child had come back. But she was glad the skelechild was there instead. She wasn't entirely sure how she'd react if Chara was in their place.  
-Flowey's view-  
Flowey moved quickly through undergrowth, he took his eyes off the kid for one second and they had already vanished. He popped up in front of the small house in the ruins, remembering his first experience with the resets. Toriel had hidden herself in the cosy home, and had welcomed him with open arms. But now he waited, lurking around looking for a skeletal human to slip up and expose their hiding spot. He heard footsteps just in time to duck under a pile of flowers. There they were. A child, no taller than the windowsill, looked around the small room that hosted the cottage. "How dare they," Flowey thought,  
"how dare they wear Chara's sweater. Don't they know it's not theirs?!" The child seemed pleased with their surroundings and walked to the tall tree that sat in the middle of the pathway. They placed their hand against the bark and frowned. Most likely wondering where the leaves were.  
"This is it" whispered Flowey,  
"I've got a clear shot, now things can continue as normal." Flowey shot a ring of pellets, catching Frisk off guard and draining their HP to zero in a matter of seconds. Flowey was quite proud of himself that is until... A small 'blip' sounded throughout the underground, and Frisk was back at the tree, looking around for a second before bolting into the house. It took Flowey a few seconds before he realized why he couldn't reset after their first encounter. He wasn't the one in control.  
-Frisk view-  
They hadn't seen it coming, who could really? One second they had been filled with determination after touching the tree, the next they stood in front of a menu screen. Giving them the options to continue or reset. They had chose continue, and here they were in the house, hiding from whatever had killed them the first time. It scared them to think they had died, but they were here now and that's all that mattered. With the outdoors limited, and not much to do in their room, they decided to investigate the staircase. Frisk tiptoed quietly down the spiraling staircase, for fear that something might alert Toriel to their presence. However, they were surprised to see Toriel standing on the other side of the hall. She looked peaceful to say the least.  
"You want to see outside of the ruins? Fair enough my child, but I must warn you. Although you are not human, monsters may still attack you. I must show you the ropes." The 'ding' sound rung and Frisk knew exactly what was happening. The fight they had had with Flowey, although brief, had let them know enough to be aware of one starting. They braced themself for the inevitable attack and were surprised when none came.  
"My child," Frisk opened their eyes and looked at Toriel with curiosity.  
"you have a human's soul. How?" Toriel's face went from one of patience and wisdom to one of worry.  
"No, you can't have a human soul." How is that possible? I'm sorry but you can't leave here, he...Asgore will kill you, and take your soul. I haven't trained you in how to defend yourself against them." She began pushing Frisk towards the exit, but Frisk stopped her.  
"I will be fine mom." She looked surprised.  
"No my child, you do not understand, he will kill you and I haven't told you the basics..."  
"Mommy I want to see the outside please!" Toriel sighed, there was no way she could stop their curiosity now that they knew something else was out there. She let go of their hand and sped towards the doorway. Frisk followed close behind.  
"You are not the first human to fall down here. Many others have fallen down before you." She took a sharp turn and Frisk stumbled before catching up again.  
"Up ahead, like I told you, is the exit. I will destroy it, so nobody shall be hurt again." Frisk's eyes widened and they cried out in protest.  
"No! Mom, you can't do that!" Toriel appeared to be crying.  
"The other children were killed because I was too weak to stop them. I will not let the same fate befall you, go upstairs my child."  
"No!" Toriel turned to face Frisk, a look of slight annoyance in her eyes.  
"I must know you won't be hurt, prove yourself to me and show me you can defend yourself." The fight started and Frisk looked around, trying to get a quick grip on the situation around them. They quickly refused to fight. Toriel's eyes narrowed and she conjured a fireball before hurling it at Frisk. Frisk narrowly dodged it only to be burned by a few others. They turned and once again refused to fight.  
"What are you doing?" Frisk's HP dropped to 5 as more fire magic burned their leg. But they still refused to fight.  
"Fight me or run away!" Toriel's magic began avoiding Frisk and her voice became distressed. Frisk felt something claw at their soul once more as something whispered to them.  
 _"Kill her"_ it spoke in a chillingly familiar tone, despite Frisk never hearing this voice. Frisk ignored it, and focused their attention on Toriel. The more they refused to fight, the more Toriel seemed unsure. Until eventually,  
"I know you want to leave."  
*spare*  
"We don't have much but, we can be happy here." Frisk felt a little guilty as Toriel spoke. They didn't know what she'd been through.  
"No I see, the Ruins are very small once you get used to them. It would be terrible for you to grow up here. My expectations, my fears, my loneliness, for you I will put them aside." They exited the fight and threw their arms around Toriel with tears in their eyes.  
"I'll miss you mom."  
"I'll miss you too, my child. When you exit the ruins, keep walking until you reach the castle. There you will meet Asgore, I am sure you will get past him." Frisk tightened their hug as Toriel spoke.  
"Please my child, do not come back here." Toriel got up and began walking down the hall, turning around for one last look at the skeleton, before leaving. Frisk felt their sadness and guilt weigh on their soul. They sighed and continued walking, filled with newfound determination. The hallway opened into a darker room, much like the one they had found themself in at the beginning. With none other than Flowey, sitting in the middle.  
"You aren't normal, are you?" Frisk chose to stay silent. Flowey chuckled nervously as a much darker mood filled the air.  
"Not by monster, or human standards huh?" He sucked in a breath of air.  
"Listen, I don't know what you are, but I'm sure as hell not going to let you stop me." Frisk looked at him with worry and slight fear.  
"After all, in this world, it's kill or be killed. You will learn that sooner or later. Don't worry, my little friend. I'm not the one after you yet." Flowey regained his composure and let out a terrifying laugh before popping back underground, leaving Frisk to ponder what had just happened.

 **Author's note: Tahdahhh! Chapter 3 is ready! I've been thinking of this for a bit, and the only real problem I had writing this one was the transition was a little rocky so sorry about that. But seriously, thank you all for the support this is amazing!**  
 **-CheckerboardCheshire**


	4. Unusual Introductions

Sans felt disoriented, a reset had occurred and though it wasn't uncommon. He had felt the balance shift and for a second, his hope had returned to him. But now he was back here, following his excitable brother along to his post.  
 **"Remember brother, you need to stay alert at all times. The humans are extremely difficult to capture, if you see one simply tell me so that I, the Great Papyrus will catch it and finally join the Royal Guard."**  
"sure bro." Sans nodded towards his little brother's post before meandering to his own. Everything seemed relatively normal. He just hoped that today would pass by smoothly, and he wouldn't have to worry about his bro being dusted by a flower for the umpteenth time. It wasn't long before the crunch of snow emitted from the forest, he teleported behind the shadowy figure and followed their steps. It wasn't a flower. Definitely not a flower. He decided to have a bit of fun with the person.  
-frisk view-  
Something was there, following them. They weren't so sure what it was but it made itself known when a large branch snapped. Frisk stopped cold when they reached the bridge. The slow crackle of debris growing louder with every second.  
" **HEYA.** " Frisk tensed up at the sound, chills running up and down their back.  
 **"Don't you know how to greet a new friend? Turn around and shake my hand."** Frisk tentatively turned and saw what appeared to be the creature. They lept back, falling backwards into the snow.  
"hey kid, calm down I won't hurt ya." The monster helped Frisk up.  
"anyway I'm sans, sans the skeleton." Sans seemed nice, but his likeliness to the creature and perpetual smile was creepy to say the least. He still managed to frown somewhat.  
"you don't look so good, are you alright?" Frisk nodded slowly, still uneasy.  
"well, you mind telling me what a babybones like you is doing out here?" Frisk shook their head. They didn't like being called a babybones, it sounded demeaning. Like they couldn't take care of themself. Sans, ironically, seemed the more uncomfortable of the two. He recognized something was up with this kid and not just the fact that it had cracks along its skull resembling someone he once knew.  
"welp, my brother's up ahead. if ya meet him, you might wanna try a few of his puzzles. who knows, you might even become friends." Sans shrugged and spun around, walking towards the ruins. Frisk ran forward, not wanting to run into anymore surprises but, they crashed into a much taller skeleton.  
 **"Wowie! Are you alright?"** At least this skeleton didn't freak them out as much, but what was it that Sans said...his brother?  
" **You should be careful, small skeleton! There may be humans nearby that I, the Great Papyrus have to capture!"** Frisk, although intimidated, had to admit they may have misjudged the skelebros. They felt awful for what they had done and hoped they could apologize but, a booming voice turned their attention to the task at hand.  
 **"Do you like puzzles, small skeleton?"** Frisk nodded slowly, unaware of the skeleton's enthusiasm towards japes and puzzles.  
 **"WONDERFUL!"** His constant smile somehow grew wider.  
"I, the Great Papyrus, know you will surely love the puzzles I have created! You shall be thoroughly japed indeed!" Papyrus bounded off past a checkpoint and through the snow, a delighted **'Nyeh heh heh!'** following him. Frisk couldn't help but smile, Papyrus had a very gentle giant feel about him, and although Sans frightened them a bit. They just needed to give him another chance right?  
-Gaster view-  
Gaster cursed under his breath, his sons had discovered his target, and although Sans would most likely have no problem eradicating the anomaly if the need arose. Papyrus was a far gentler soul, and would protect them even if they threatened them with death. He needed to get Papyrus out of the way, or at least keep him from following them. He ripped through the code quickly, teleporting closer to the human. They still crackled with overflowing determination. This time however, Gaster sensed a secondary presence around the soul. He couldn't put his finger on it, but this determination seemed familiar. It seemed dormant for the most part. But he'd have to keep a closer eye on the human.  
 _"Aren't you interesting."_ He whispered to the human.  
 _"You climbed Mt Ebbot despite it being a dangerous trek and here you are, investigating the underground with a strange form of determination piggybacking on your soul."_ He chuckled softly to himself.  
 _"Very interesting indeed."_ He studied the crevices in the child's skull, part of him wondered if his impatient grasp of their soul had caused them all. Sure, a few were quite obvious in resemblance to his own, but a few seemed inflicted by something else...interesting indeed.  
 **Author's note: sorry for not updating for a bit, I've just been working on a few things and apparently school hates my guts. ^_^ so the updates might be slowed but hopefully not.**  
 **-CheckerboardCheshire**


	5. So many questions

Frisk trudged through the snow, they didn't feel cold but shivered anyway. A sort of ghost of what their skin once felt. They eventually reached a small pathway where Sans was waiting patiently.  
"so you've met my brother huh?" Frisk nodded, a small smile appearing on their face. Maybe Sans wasn't so bad after all!  
"that's great, yknow my bro's been waiting for a human to appear, but so far no luck." He shrugged, but seemed a bit serious.  
"You wouldn't happen to know if there was one nearby would you?" Frisk shook their head vigorously, the last thing they wanted him to know was of their humanity. Flowey had nearly killed them, and Toriel had said something about other monsters stealing their soul. Getting kidnapped or killed wasn't on frisk's agenda.  
"huh," Sans mumbled. He didn't seem convinced.  
"well if you do, tell me okay? there's someone out there who won't be too happy if they find one."  
They nodded and turned around, curious as to what he meant. As they walked along the pathway they came upon a small sentry station, they thought it was empty and walked past it without a thought until.  
"Did something move?! Was it my imagination? I can only see moving things..." Frisk stood still, as the dog spoke.  
"If something DID move for example, a human, I'll make sure it never moves again!" Frisk felt their soul flicker and appear in front of them, sickly purple lines had dug into the originally red soul giving off a toxic aura. The dog seemed unphased and a light blue sword floated over Frisk's skull.  
"Don't move an inch." He rasped, Frisk held up their hands in front of them out of fear, but otherwise the sword passed over them without incident. Doggo looked around, he didn't seem to notice Frisk. Wait, Doggo was fairly canine-like, so what if...  
 ** _*ACTPET*_** the reaction was immediate.  
"WHAT? IVE BEEN PET!" As the sword appeared and once more floated over without harm, Frisk had to admit they didn't expect that to work. The dog looked around nervously mumbling to themself.  
"S-something pet me! Something that isn't m-moving." Frisk stifled a giggle as the dog sunk below his post.  
"I'm gonna need some more dog treats for this." Frisk suspected the dog wouldn't return so they journeyed forth. It was kind of disturbing, hearing the clatter of bones constantly. They still hadn't completely adjusted to their skeletal features, but they didn't have much choice. As they walked along they spotted Sans not too far off in the distance. Wait, didn't he stay beside the pathway before? Frisk was pretty sure he hadn't moved...right? Either way, Sans noticed them, and waved with his trademark smile plastered on his face. Frisk walked up to him, also smiling.  
"hey kiddo, if my bro tries to fight you don't be too worried, okay? he doesn't mean any real harm, but if you do fight him, he's got a special attack. it's blue, and as long as you stay still you should be fine." Frisk frowned, this news was disconcerting to say the least. Papyrus didn't strike them as the kind of person to fight, or pose a threat at all. They started off towards the north before...  
"hey kid, have you seen another skeleton besides me and my bro?" Frisk frowned, another skeleton? They shook their head.  
"funny, i coulda sworn you looked kinda like...nevermind i'll see you up ahead." Frisk walked northern wondering about what Sans had said, look like what? They scratched their skull in confusion, their hand briefly running over the scars from their contact with...wait. Hold on a second, _does Sans know about the creature?!_ They spun around only to see Sans had left his post. They sighed and walked back seeing a good sized snowman smiling calmly at them.  
"Hello I am a snowman. I would like to see the world, but I cannot move. If you would be so kind, traveler, please take a piece of me and bring it far away." Frisk smiled and took a small piece, not wanting to harm the snowy creature. They walked away cheerfully, and continued on the path until they came into a clearing where Papyrus and Sans awaited them. They appeared to be having a conversation.  
 **"Sans! You shouldn't call them a babybones, that's annoying and childish!"**  
"come on bro, you were called it all the time when you were little." Papyrus grumbled.  
 **"Yes but I'm not going to call my rival 'babybones!'"** Sans snorted,  
"welp, howzabout you make up a name instead." Papyrus smiled and spoke with vigor.  
 **"I have the perfect name!"** Sans noticed Frisk and motioned towards them.  
"well here's the perfect opportunity to put it into action." Papyrus spun around suddenly.  
 **"Greetings, Skelechild!"** Sans and Frisk shared a giggle.  
 **"I'm sure you'll find this puzzle...quite shocking! For you see,"** Papyrus made a sweeping motion with his arm.  
 **"This is the invisible, ELECTRICITY MAZE! If you make a wrong move on the maze this orb here will deliver a hearty zap! Sound fun? Because, the amount of fun you will probably have, is actually rather small I go ahead and try it."** Frisk gingerly stepped onto the snow only for Papyrus to be electrocuted.  
 **"SANS WHAT DID YOU DO?!"** Papyrus stomped his foot in a miniature temper tantrum.  
"i think the kid has to hold the orb."  
 **"Oh."** Papyrus looked sheepish and he walked through the maze, leaving obvious footprints in the snow.  
 **"Here, hold this."** He tossed the orb onto Frisk's head and sped away. Frisk carefully followed the path Papyrus had left and reached the end without a mistake.  
 **"Clever! You slippery snail! You solved it so easily, TOO easily."** His eyes shifted suspiciously before returning to their energetic happiness.  
" **However! The next puzzle will not be easy, it was created by my brother Sans! You will surely be confounded, I know I am!"** He bounded away, a fading trail of ' **Nyeh heh heh** 's following him. Frisk turned their attention to Sans who's grin seemed to widen.  
"thanks, my bro seems to be having a lot of fun, even if you aren't exactly the human that'll get him into the Royal Guard." Frisk frowned and looked Sans dead in the eyesocket. Sans seemed to get the idea and sighed.  
"you wanna talk about the skeleton i brought up huh?" Frisk nodded. Sans looked like he'd rather be somewhere else.  
"hey, i don't really think we should talk about someone who might be listening." He began to walk away before Frisk tugged angrily on his jacket.  
"hey kid, don't look 'sew' upset," He shrugged.  
"just keep track of time, and i'll try to help before anything goes 'bad'." The whites of his eyes disappeared as he spoke.  
" _don't ever follow him either, cause where he is it's devoid of hope."_ He walked off and Frisk pondered his advice. It didn't help really, but it did make them wonder, how desperate was this guy for a soul?  
 **Author's note: Tra la la la la Sans is mysterious :3 I hope this turned out right, I'm not good with intimidation whatsoever, but yeah this came out faster and better than expected! See you on the flipside I guess.**  
 **-CheckerboardCheshire**


	6. Word Jumbles and Crossword Puzzles

Frisk followed the trail Papyrus had left confused and disoriented. Sans acted like he didn't trust them.(well Frisk didn't trust him but still!) It seemed like something was off. How was Sans connected to the creature? Did Papyrus know about it? They noticed what looked like an ice cream vendor standing next to his cart.  
"I don't know why these aren't selling, it's the perfect weather for something cold..." The icecream man perked up when Frisk approached. Seemingly glad someone had finally stopped.  
"OH, a customer!" He smiled cheerfully, and Frisk felt happier just standing next to him.  
"Would you like some nice cream? Its the frozen treat that warms your heart! Now just 15g." Frisk nodded and gave the vendor 15g. He smiled and handed them a blue icecream.  
"Here you go, have a superduper day!" They giggled to themself and enjoyed the treat, unraveling the paper revealed a small picture of two people hugging. They stuffed the picture in their pocket and crossed the wooden bridge, a snowball awaited them along with what appeared to be a golf course for the snowball. Out of determination and a desire to take a break from their journey, they began kicking around the snowball towards the hole.  
-Flowey-  
As the skelekid amused themself with the idiotic game Flowey calmly observed them. Every move they made served to make Flowey more certain they knew more about what was going on. He had to be careful though, he couldn't just redo his mistakes anymore. He grumbled to himself and noticed the kid had finally got the snowball into the hole and was reading the words on the flag that had popped up.  
"Oh wow! Such a big accomplishment, betcha real happy you wasted your time with that!" Flowey mumbled sarcastically. Hilariously enough they seemed quite proud of their accomplishment and had headed up to chat with that smiley trashbag Sans. The idiots were having a chat no doubt about his sickeningly cheerful brother Papyrus. Although Papyrus was fun to mess with, Flowey could only take his innocence in small doses. Where was the fool anyway? Flowey wasn't going to interact with them but even so, in case he got control back he didn't want to lose a toy. He popped underground, he was going to keep ahead of the kid, just in case.  
-Frisk-  
They turned away from Sans and continued into the next area where Papyrus and Sans were waiting for them. They would have found Sans' disappearances odd, but he did them too often for Frisk to be bothered, their attention was focused on Papyrus at this point.  
 **"Skelechild! I hope you're ready for..."** He seemed a bit confused.  
 **"SANS! Where's the puzzle.** " His brother chuckled and gestured at a paper lying in the snow.  
"it's right there, on the ground. trust me, there's no way they'll get past this one." Frisk approached the paper and picked it up. It was a fairly easy word search, they placed it back down, noting that they'd need to check and see if there really was a word called giasfclfebfehber.  
 **"Sans! That didn't do anything!"**  
"whoops, i knew i should have used today's crossword instead." Sans shrugged, obviously not bothered by his blunder. However Papyrus definitely was.  
 **"Crossword?!"** He boomed loudly enough to create an avalanche.  
" **I can't believe you said that! In my opinion, Junior Jumble is easily the hardest."** Sans snorted.  
"what, really dude? that easy peasy word scramble." His grin seemed to widen with every word.  
"that's for babybones." Frisk cringed at the word, Papyrus remained unphased.  
 **"Unbelievable. Skelechild! Solve this dispute!"** Frisk quickly chose the jumble, much to Papyrus's delight.  
 **"Ha-ha yes ! The skelechild must be very intelligent if they also find Junior Jumble so difficult! Nyeh heh heh-heh!"** He bounded off, leaving Sans and Frisk to themselves. Sans spoke calmly, as if their previous conversations hadn't occurred.  
"thanks for saying junior jumble just to appease my brother." His eyes twinkled mischievously.  
"yesterday he got stumped trying to "solve" the horoscope." Frisk had to smile a bit, Papyrus' antics were quite amusing. But Frisk was more focused on getting the truth out of Sans. They didn't allow themself to blink for fear he might disappear again.  
"Who is the creature Sans?" Sans sighed and shrugged.  
"i don't remember that well."  
"Not funny Sans."  
"i'm telling the truth, i don't remember anything." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.  
"go ahead and ask someone else why doncha?" Snow crackled behind them causing enough of a distraction for Sans to escape, and forcing Frisk to continue forth without any answers. They came into a clearing where a plate of spaghetti and a microwave sat on a small wooden table. A note sat close by atop a pile of snow. It read:  
 ** _Skelechild! Please enjoy this spaghetti!(little do you know this spaghetti is a trap! Designed to entice you! You'll be so busy eating it, that you won't know you aren't progressing! Thoroughly japed again by the great Papyrus!) Nyeh-heh-heh, Papyrus._** Frisk smiled, as much as they wished they could eat the spaghetti, the spaghetti was so cold it had stuck to the table, they also weren't sure what would happen if they attempted to eat while a skeleton. The stuff might fall through, but Sans and Papyrus were skeletons too right? They'd half to ask them later. In the meantime, they noticed a small mouse hole in the cliff face across from them. They were determined that the mouse might one day heat up and eat the spaghetti. It wasn't long before a large dog appeared in front of them and barked excitedly wielding its sword of pomergranite. Their soul flashed and appeared once again, this time the purple crevices had widened slightly. They wondered if they would be able to end the fight like they had with the other dog, and reached out their hand. They pet the dog and it looked as if the dog's neck elongated. To test this theory, they pet it some more. Just as they had suspected, the dog's head grew longer with every pet and so did Frisk's giggles. However, every good thing must come to an end as they spared the dog and continued the walk to Papyrus. Oddly enough, as they walked they found something covered in a thin layer of snow. They uncovered it and found it was a map of a sort with a small red X in one of the corners. They followed the map only to find a small switch that had been taken over by vines. As they walked through the "completed" puzzle they had the strangest feeling of being watched. Their attention however, was turned to the two cloaked figures approaching them.  
From the two whitish snouts peering from within the hoods, it was safe to assume that they too, were dog monsters.  
"What's that smell?" (Where's that smell?)  
"If you're a smell..."(...identify yoursmelf!) They darted around, attempting to track Frisk in an almost cartoonish fashion. If Frisk hadn't been terrified for their life, they would've laughed. The dogs suddenly froze having found their target.  
"Here's strange smell. It makes me want to eliminate." (Eliminate YOU.) Frisk's soul flickered once more as the two dogs almost immediately shifted their axes to protect eachother when the fight began.  
-Sans-  
Sans watched from afar, he had to admit the kid was doing pretty well. The fight had stopped as soon as the dogs had found out they had been fighting a "monster" child and the aftermath had included a lot of apologizing. The kid unnerved him, to say the least. Everything about them was wrong, the fact that they seemed like a real monster but the second you saw their soul it became obvious what they were, their soul pulsated with a strange magic and never looked right, and they never hurt anyone, not even on accident. Sans could swear as he followed them, words appeared overhead, glitching into WingDings. Their shadows seemed to move away from their host, only to move back once Sans blinked. At least the flower hadn't decided to reset yet. Even if the kid was a little scary, they were definitely a lot better than the weed that had wrapped itself around their world. He just wished the kid wasn't so curious. He would probably have to avoid the kid or at least cut up their conversations to prevent being interrogated like that again. He sighed and leaned against the tree, letting his thoughts catch up to him.  
"wow lady, you sure can pick 'em."  
 **Author's note** : **HAHAHAHA** **nope** **didn't get** **any** **sleep** **last** **night** **but** **i did** **get** **lots** **of time** **for thisss**. **While** **we're** **still** **thinking** **of** **jumble** **puzzles** , **why** **are** **they** **so** **tough?!** **:\/** **it's** **like** " **Here** **have** **some** **alphabet** **soup** , **now** **go** **write** **a** **biography**."  
\- **CheckerboardCheshire**


	7. Puzzles and Suspicious Flowers

Gaster floated silently in the void. He had manifested all of the information he had about the child in small models and boards. It almost felt like he was back at the lab, monitoring various determination strains while Sans watched closely. He had always been interested in his father's work. After all, it was how he was created. Who wouldn't be interested in your own creation?Papyrus was the only one of their strange family that wasn't intrigued by cloning or other sciences for that matter. He was far more interested in friendship and the Royal Guard. Gaster had been somewhat relieved Papyrus didn't care about that stuff. It gave off a natural feeling to the chaotic family. Gaster chuckled, his sons had no doubt forgotten him by now, as they lived full lives without so much as an "I miss you." That he'd seen anyway. Maybe he would have regretted them remembering him all those years. They'd have to live with the knowledge that no matter what, they were the only ones who remembered him and they would never see him again. He furrowed his brow in thought, maybe they did remember...no it wouldn't be possible. It would only be achieved in his dreams, and he hadn't dreamed since he'd fallen.

-Frisk-  
They waved goodbye to the dog couple as they speedwalked away, quiet and shaky apologies following them. They smiled and searched for evidence that Papyrus or Sans had crossed through here. Soon enough they found a small puzzle with glowing X's surrounded by frozen snow, a small switch lie just north of it. They spotted a wooden sign not too far away and approached it. 'Turn every X into an O, then press the switch.' They inspected the luminescent X's, hoping to get a clue as to how they could change it. Out of curiosity they pressed their foot against the bluish glow. It immediately flipped to a red O and they realized this was easier than they thought it would be. They changed the other one and clicked the switch. A booming voice sounded and they recognized it almost instantly  
 **"What?! How did you avoid my trap? And more importantly, is there any left for me?"** Frisk frowned, remembering the frozen dish sitting atop a coffee table. They weren't able to eat it so technically, there was plenty left for him. Whether or not he could eat it was another story entirely. They nodded slightly, hoping he wouldn't be upset that they didn't eat any. Instead he did an exaggerated gasp and his grin widened despite his fleshless face.  
 **"Really?!** **You resisted the flavor of my delicious homecooked pasta, just so you could share it with** ** _me_** **?"** He looked absolutely ecstatic, as if he was a child that had been given a million birthday presents instead of some frozen spaghetti.  
" **Fret not Skelechild! I master chef Papyrus will make you all the pasta you could ever want!"** Frisk followed him as he walked into a clearing, a bounce in his step. He turned and stopped and they wondered if he knew anything about what Sans was hiding.  
 **"My brother started a sock collection recently, how saddening...sometimes I wonder what he would do without such a cool guy taking care of him."** From that response alone Frisk got the idea that Papyrus might be kept in the dark, as Sans was very capable of taking care of himself. They noticed another puzzle like the previous one only with more snow and ice frozen around the X's. They turned to Papyrus for an explanation. Papyrus frowned,  
 **"Skelechild, you were taking a while to arrive so I took the time to improve the puzzle."** His smile reappeared and Frisk couldn't help but giggle at his response.  
 **"By arranging the snow to look more like my face!"**  
-Sans-  
The kid and Papyrus were solving puzzles pretty quickly. Sans had to admit that Papyrus's mood had been improved ever since the kid appeared. However, it would only be a matter of time before something dragged him back, and he'd be walking Papyrus to his station again this morning. The flower had made his life (if you could even call it that at this point) a depressing hell. But the weed seemed to be leaving them alone for now. He spotted a movement from the cliff side and sighed. _Speak of the devil_. He leaned against the evergreen tree and waited for the kid to pass by, a chunk of him wanted to tell the kid everything but he'd have to know more about the little skeleton before he said anything. A voice he definitely wasn't expecting.  
"Howdy, Smiley Trashbag!" He looked down, trying to keep his expression as neutral as possible.  
"heya, weed. what brings you around here?" His eyesockets darkened.  
"after all, you've already done everything there is to do didn't you?" If Flowey was intimidated, he ignored it.  
"Listen here comedian, you must've noticed something was off about the kid right?" Sans didn't answer, he remained still as a soldier at attention.  
"Well somethings following them, and-"  
"i know." Sans interrupted suddenly, surprising Flowey and throwing off his figurative balance.  
"Then why aren't you doing anything Trashbag!" Flowey was anxious, as well as angry.  
"well it's not my problem for one." Sans shrugged nonchalantly before leaning forward two inches from the flower's face.  
"and two, the kid's trouble to you and they're obviously not a threat to me or my bro." Flowey grumbled to himself before popping back under the snow and ice.  
"You'll regret that chuckles." Sans noticed the kid approaching, they had a smile on their face and were almost bursting with questions.  
"heya kiddo." They waved cheerily and wasted no time in attempting to get answers. He raised up his hands to calm down the skelekid.  
"sorry buddy, but you can start asking questions later."  
"When?!"  
"don't worry, i'll tell ya later." Sans shrugged and started walking away quickly. He ducked behind a tree and teleported to a familiar place. It was a low quality laboratory, with papers and blueprints scattered everywhere. A broken machine lay in the corner, covered by a sheet. He walked across the cold blue-tiled floor and watched it calmly, as if he expected it to move. The thing had been created to keep track of timelines, so he wouldn't be surprised if it did. He sighed and turned around to leave having finished his short reminisce.  
"you certainly knew how to make creepy gadgets dad." As he left, his shadow took longer than normal to catch up to him.  
-Flowey(time lapse)-  
The smiling idiot had to know something was up with the kid. Flowey had seen him stare untrustingly at the unnatural skelekid. He was always nervous when the child bombarded him with questions, and he danced around the words nervously. Giving them an answer but not really. The flower growled and popped out to see where the kid was. The kid was happily observing a few dog statues. When they turned around suddenly, Flowey barely made it underground.  
"Shit, I hope they didn't see me." If they did, then they didn't show it and went back to the task at hand.  
"I really gotta stop being such an idiot."

 **Author's note: yay I got this one done, I've been working on another fanfiction that should be up soon. It's taking a while to set out though. Catch you on the flipside I guess**  
 **-CheckerboardCheshire**


	8. Hallucinatory Problems

After Sans had vanished, Frisk continued to another clearing where Papyrus was waiting for them. He bolted upright the second he saw the skelechild.

" **Hey!"** As soon as he lept to his feet, Sans seemed to materialize behind him.  
" **You're gonna love this puzzle! It was created by the great doctor Alphys!"** Frisk absently wondered who that was as Papyrus cheerfully explained the puzzle.  
 **"You see these tiles? Once I throw this switch, they will begin to change color!"** Frisk's eyesockets glanced at Sans for a second and they noticed he was staring intently, a look of suspicion on his face. They decided to stare back, and they hoped he'd get the idea that he was being a bit rude. As they focused on Sans, dark purple seeped into their vision creating a lavender haze. They tried to clear the haze by blinking, but the second they had their eyesockets closed symbols flashed in an unknown language. All outside audio became garbled and washed over as if it was underwater. Their mind was focused on the symbols dancing in their vision. They had never seen these yet they could almost understand  
 _'G...A...S...T...E...'_  
 **"S_ele_ch_ld?"** Papyrus' cheerful and somewhat muffled voice broke through their thoughts, the symbols dissipated, but the splitting headache from the ruins had returned.  
 **"Did you get all that?"** They blinked and in their half asleep state, nodded dumbly. In truth, they hadn't heard a word of what Papyrus had said and they were probably going to fail this puzzle.  
 **"Great, then there's one last thing you need to know. This puzzle, is entirely random!"** He gestured toward the machine.  
" **When I pull this switch, it will create a puzzle that has never been seen before! Not even I will know the solution!"** He dramatically swept his hand towards the switch.  
" **Nyeh heh heh! Get ready!"** He flicked the switch and the gray tiles began to change color. Red,blue, pink, etc. Eventually, they stopped and a pink path bordered by red tiles appeared. Frisk got ahold of themselves just enough to see Papyrus twirl away. They walked sluggishly, but they felt their determination replenish, and they slowly continued onward. As they limped, they felt a hand on their back. They looked up to see Sans looking somewhat worried.  
"hey kid, take it easy okay?" He sighed and took his hand off. He stared straight ahead ,but Frisk was more concerned with getting away from the place of their hallucination. They sped up gradually and soon multiple snow dog statues came into view. They were pretty confused. The statues' heads stuck out everywhere, some of them had snapped off while others barely held on. They turned to a reindeer-like monster for an explanation.  
"A dog just rushed in here, filled with inspiration." They spoke calmly and deliberately.  
"It kept trying to build a snowdog that expressed its own emotions...but, as it built, it kept getting more and more excited about the sculpture." They shook their head sadly.  
"It's neck got longer and longer, and it added more and more snow. Until it was rather sad to watch, but I couldn't turn away." Frisk frowned a bit. They looked around at the statues once more and noticed how familiar the dog statues appeared. Almost like that dog with the elongated ne- oh.

 _Oops._

That had to be a coincidence right? They slowly backed away before breaking into a sprint. They decided they should move along. It wasn't long before they came across another puzzle. The puzzle was similar to the previous X and O ones, so they didn't think much of it. They didn't notice the puzzle was encased in a thin layer of slippery ice. And because of this fact, they fell off the edge in almost no time at all, encountering two more snow statues. These statues, however were of a muscular Papyrus, and a lump of snow with the word 'Sans' scribbled on it in red marker. They giggled at that. They returned to the puzzle, filled with newfound determination, and solved it in a few seconds. They slid through a group of trees, collecting a small pile of snow atop their skull. They freaked out and wiped it off immediately. It wasn't that they hated snow or anything, but the cracks in their skull allowed for the icy snow to drip inside. Very uncomfortable, to say the least.  
They noticed a path leading to the south and decided to traverse it. As they wandered, they noticed Sans standing there. They stopped to chat with him, but they only got a calm 'heya' in response. Defeated, they turned to finish exploring the cliffside and Sans was standing over there instead.  
. _..what?..._  
They ran up to talk to him again.  
"hey," he mumbled, his grin somehow widened. "are you following me?"  
Frisk was dumbfounded. In any other situation, they would gesture wildly and protest, but at this point they couldn't think of a response. They shrugged slightly and approached the dark cave in the mountainside. They peered in and tiptoed slowly. Their path was illuminated by glowing grass and bright orbs of magic floating around aimlessly. It was very peaceful. Up ahead was a large door and four patches of glowing mushrooms. The door was closed tightly and the mushrooms squeaked like mice when Frisk touched them. They wished they could stay, but they were determined to find their way out. So they sighed and left the tranquil room. They backtracked to the fork in the road and walked eastward. The east road led to another clearing with piles of snow. Actually, they were snow poffs.  
 _Huh._  
They investigated the snow poffs and even found some gold in one. They approached the last one that sat on the pathway. As they moved towards it, they noticed a small white furry head poke out of it. It was another dog!  
 _How cute._  
They beckoned for the small pooch and it gladly complied, rising out of the snow and towering over them ominously. They suddenly felt very frightened, since the once small pooch had to be at least 7 feet tall!  
 _Uh oh._

 **Author's note:**  
 **I've been thinking of putting more emotion into Frisk's thoughts, is it just me or do they kinda seem robotic at this point? ¯\\_(** **ツ** **)_/¯**  
 **-CheckerboardCheshire**


	9. A Charming Battle

Frisk took a step back. The enormous pooch's tail wagged excitedly, and it's tongue lolled out of its mouth. Frisk's soul appeared in front of them once again, pulsating with a web of deep purple lines. It's armor clanked as it shifted from one paw to the other. They were surprised but recovered quickly. The dog, although huge, didn't seem to be a threat at all.  
Frisk reached out their hand and, hoping that they wouldn't offend it, beckoned to the massive canine. It bounded towards them, tail moving faster than the speed of light. Frisk hopped out of the way of their opponent's spear which oddly had the face of a dog on the business end.  
The dog jumped up and down, waiting for Frisk to move again. Frisk reached tentatively towards it and pet them gently. The dog leaned into them, putting all of its weight on them. It fell asleep for a little while, giving Frisk time to relax.  
But not for long. The dog woke up, it's tail wagging as it playfully jumped around. Frisk looked around and realized that they couldn't find anything that might substitute as a toy.  
 _Unless..._  
They grabbed some of the snow around them and packed it into a tight ball before tossing it over Greater dog's head. Their opponent darted over to locate it, and after finding nothing they brought back all the snow in the area.  
The dog made itself at home on Frisk's lap and nuzzled their head against Frisk's hand. Prompting them to pet it gently. Eventually, Frisk felt their soul relax and flicker back into their chest. The dog got up, and lept out of it's armor, revealing that Frisk's original assumption that it was a small dog was actually correct. Frisk's eyes lit up and they smiled as the Greater dog licked their face before leaping back into its armor.  
Backwards.  
It disappeared ahead of the pathway, and Frisk attempted to follow it. Instead they came across a large wooden bridge.  
But, on closer inspection you see it's actually a rock formation painted to look like a bridge.  
"Oh." Frisk muttered to themself. They start to cross the bridge(?) and spot Papyrus chatting with Sans up ahead. Papyrus noticed them and turned to face them.  
 **"Skelechild! This is your final and most dangerous puzzle!"** He bowed dramatically sweeping a hand through the air. **"Behold! The Gauntlet of Deadly Terror!"** Multiple objects descended from above. Including, a large mace, an axe, some form of flamethrower, and a small white dog? Papyrus, seemingly oblivious to the dog spinning around in his gauntlet, continued his speech.  
 **"When I say the word it will fully activate! Cannons will fire, spikes will swing, and blades will slice."** He put plenty of emphasis on the word slice, drawing it out in a way that sounded somewhat like a snake.  
 **"Each part will swing violently up and down! Only the tiniest chance of victory will remain. Are you ready skelechild?"** His permanent grin faltered a bit as he spoke.  
 **"Because, I...am...about, to do it!"** They waited for a bit before Sans coughed.  
"well? what's the holdup?"  
 **"Holdup? What holdup?!"** Papyrus' looked around nervously. **"I...I'm about to activate it now!"** Another awkward silence...  
"that uhh doesn't look very activated." Sans mumbled amusedly.  
 **"Well!"** Papyrus sounded slightly offended.  
 **"It seems, that this challenge is too dangerous for the Skelechild!"** He placed a gloved hand on his jaw and thought for a bit.  
 **"Yeah! We can't use this one."** His eyesockets brightened slightly and he returned to his default confident pose.  
 **"I am a skeleton with standards, after all! My puzzles are very fair, and my traps are expertly cooked. But this trap is too dangerous, even for an intelligent skeleton like this one."** Frisk felt plenty of relief as the various weapons were stored invisibly above them. The gauntlet was daunting, to say the least.  
They noticed Papyrus speedwalk away, seemingly in a hurry. They approached Sans as soon as the taller skeleton left, knowing fully well that they wouldn't get any answers to their questions. Sans surprised them with a confused look as well as a strange statement.  
"not entirely sure what paps is gonna do now." He shifted from one foot to the other.  
"if i were you, i'd make sure i understood blue attacks."  
 _How peculiar..._  
Frisk walked along the pathway quicker than usual, leaving Sans standing in a snow bank. They came across a small town with a light up sign marked cheerfully. It read: "Welcome to Snowdin!" In bright red lettering. The town was exceptionally welcoming, Frisk felt almost at home as when they were at Toriel's house.  
They still felt a lingering guilt when they thought about the goatlike monster. Which reminded them, they still had the butterscotch cinnamon pie in the satchel they'd found. In fear that the pastry had gotten crushed, they opened up the pack only to find their fears unfounded. As the pie was perfectly intact, and still warm? They frowned, this was strange considering they had been traveling through snow and ice for the past few hours. They then thought briefly back to the magic Toriel had used to attack them. Maybe that had something to do with it? They shrugged to themselves and re-packed the pie, feeling that it may come in handy sometime.  
After packing, they decided that they would check out a few of the stores lining the street. They walked into the first one, only to be greeted with a blast of warm air and a friendly, smiling rabbit creature. The store owner had plenty of items lined up along the display cases. Including what appeared to be small cinnamonrolls with even smaller bunny ears adorning each of them. The bunny behind the desk spoke calmly, and warmly.  
"What can I get for ya kid?" Frisk couldn't help but smile at the lady. They pointed curiously at the cinnamonrolls and looked up at her.  
"What are those miss?"  
"Oh," she picked up one of the glazed treats gently.  
"These are homemade cinnamon bunnies, my own recipe." She smiled as the skelekid peered over the counter.  
"Would you like a few?" Frisk nodded and reached in their pockets for some G they'd found. The bunny lady deposited two cinnamon bunnies in a bag.  
"Anything else?" Frisk nodded and pointed to a couple bisicles and a manly bandana. She placed them in along with the treats.  
"Here you are kiddo." Frisk gave her more G and left the shop smiling. Only to be greeted with the freezing cold of Snowdin. It didn't bother them much, but it was sort of disorienting. They wrapped the bandana around their skull and put the rest of their items in the satchel. They looked around and decided to go to the inn to relax a bit. The whole adventure had taken the wind out of them and a short rest could help a little. They opened the door and walked up to the owner of the inn. Who also happened to be a bunny monster. Much like the shopkeeper, she also had a welcoming smile and a warm greeting.  
"Hello and welcome to Snowdin's premier hotel, Snowed Inn." Frisk grinned at the obvious pun, and shuffled up to the front desk. A smaller bunny watched them intently from behind the desk themself.  
Frisk asked shyly if they could rent a room for the night. The lady smiled wider.  
"Of course! One night is 80g." Frisk instantly frowned, they probably didn't have enough money...but it wouldn't hurt to check. They rifled through their items only to find a measly 7g. The Innkeeper looked at the amount Frisk clutched and reacted almost instantly.  
"Oh dear you don't have enough? Here, you can stay for free." She leaned over the desk and handed Frisk a key to the first room on the left. Frisk walked up the staircase carefully.  
 _What a nice lady._  
They unlocked the door and threw their stuff on the floor before attempting to fall asleep on the soft bed. They rolled around and it became obvious that the loud snoring coming from the other room wasn't going to help them sleep. They absently wondered where their soul rested when it wasn't flickering into battle. They lifted up their sweaters and peered at the small red heart. It glowed an ominous dark purple, with equally ominous purple lines threaded through it. The pulled their sweaters back on and questioned whether or not that was normal. They'd never seen their soul before then so how would they know?  
After a waiting for a bit, they picked their stuff back up, deciding that they couldn't fall asleep. They walked down the stairs quickly and moved to the front door.  
"Oh you look very refreshed, considering you were only up there for two minutes..." The Innkeeper looked a bit awkward, and Frisk stood still for a bit, wondering what she was going to ask.  
"You don't happen to be related to those two skeleton brothers huh?" Frisk shook their head quickly.  
"Oh." She muttered, looking defeated.  
"I was just wondering, since there aren't many skeleton monsters around. If maybe..." She trailed off and Frisk knew that she wouldn't continue such an awkward conversation. They giggled to themself. You could almost say Frisk knew it, in their bones! They opened the door and left the Inn. They felt somewhat invigorated by their nap, if it could really be called that. They noticed a what appeared to be a Christmas tree in the middle of the town. It was decorated generously, with tinsel and garland all around it. Various gifts addressed to so-and-so from Santa littered the ground beneath it.  
Frisk noticed a small dinosaur-like monster staring at them. It realized Frisk had spotted them and immediately shouted at them without hesitation.  
"Yo! What's up?" Frisk wondered why they didn't wave, but as they approached the cheerful Dino the reason became clear. They didn't have any arms.  
 _Oops._  
Frisk felt a little silly but were thankful they hadn't said anything out loud. The kid was pretty happy that Frisk had walked up to them, because they started nearly wriggling with pure joy as they chatted. Frisk didn't catch much, but they did find out that striped shirts meant you were a kid, and the kid in front of them(whom they dubbed MK) was really obsessed with someone called Undyne. From what they heard, they didn't want Undyne of all people to find out they were human. They eventually left MK to themselves and went to investigate the east side of the town, as a thick foglike haze had settled around it.  
As they ventured further, a dark silhouette stood obscured by the strange fog. They felt fear tug at the edges of their mind until a familiar and confident voice echoed through the clearing.  
" **Greetings, Skelechild! It is I, the Great Papyrus."** Frisk relaxed instantly at the cheerful skeleton's trademark catchphrase. But they felt concerned as Papyrus's cheerful attitude took on a more serious tone.  
 **"In the time I've known you, Skelechild, it seems as though you have been keeping various secrets from me..."** Frisk took a step back, they had a sneaking suspicion this wasn't going to end well.  
 **"You haven't warned me of your lack of friends!"** Papyrus continued and Frisk felt a breath of relief escape from their nonexistent lungs.  
" **So I've decided, to be your friend! And what are friends without a Welcoming Fight!"** A bone materialized in his hand and he swung it skillfully.  
 **"Have at you Skelechild!"** Frisk's soul flickered rapidly and appeared in front of them. Papyrus shifted from one leg to the other. He clutched the bone he formed in his right hand, ecstatic that he had an opponent. Frisk mulled over the choices they had on their turn, when a strange idea popped into their head.  
 **Act Flirt**.  
Why?  
 _Why not?_  
They steadied themself and blew a kiss awkwardly to the taller skeleton, who looked genuinely surprised.  
 **"F-Flirting?! So now you reveal your true intentions! Well, I'm a skeleton with very high standards!"** Frisk spoke before their thoughts caught up with them.  
"I can make spaghetti." Papyrus gasped.  
 **"Oh no! You're meeting all my standards!** " Frisk suppressed a giggle as the skeleton stumbled over his words.  
 **"I guess I have no choice but to go on a date with you.** " His smile widened,  
 **"After we battle."** Magic bones appeared out of thin air and flew at Frisk with amazing speed. Frisk dodged most of them, but still got hit by a stray one. Frisk spared him calmly, happy that a random thought had actually worked.  
 **"So you won't fight huh?"** Papyrus questioned,  
 **"I guess I have no choice but to use my special attack!** " An barrage of blue colored bones were thrown at Frisk. They couldn't dodge them all, so they threw their arms up in defense. Each of the blue bones passed through them without hurting them. They waited for the bones to pass before opening their eyes again. They watched in awe as their soul flickered dark blue and dropped to the ground in newfound gravity. The taller skeleton chuckled,  
 **"You're blue now, that's my attack!"**  
-Sans-  
He watched his little brother turn the kid's soul blue in proud satisfaction. He had kept Papyrus away from most humans out of fear that one might be less friendly than his bro. He remembered hearing stories about certain humans that didn't harm many, or they just didn't grasp the fact that they were hurting people. He faintly remembered confronting one of those humans. The kid had killed everyone they had come across, which wasn't much considering that they had made their presence very obvious. Sans had stopped them in the woods and told them what they were doing was wrong, yada yada yada. All that stuff. But the kid just referred to him as a stupid, scary monster. It struck a chord with him, and he had to explain what the kid was actually doing to them.  
Wow.  
Nothing made him feel quite as guilty, as the look of pure horror on the kid's face. Simple frustration had turned into guilt and shame. He remembered the kid whispering 'I'm sorry I didn't know' over and over again.  
There hasn't been any other humans like that but the encounter still bugged him. He teleported to his post in Waterfall and waited for the human-skeleton thing to show up. Heh, the kid was charismatic, that's for sure...but he couldn't help but worry about them. Papyrus wouldn't hurt a fly, but frustration could. And he didn't want to have to deal with that no-sir-ree. He spotted the kid travel in through the cave entrance and chat with a few of the other monsters before approaching him.  
"heya kid, so questions right?" Frisk nodded and Sans chose his words carefully.  
"k, so we'll go to grillbys for this." He started walking toward the deeper end of the cave and the skelekid gave him a weird look. Sans shrugged and spoke calmly.  
"don't worry, i know a shortcut." Frisk followed him cautiously, and they traveled through the door of Grillbys. Frisk looked utterly astonished as Sans greeted each of the fellow patrons with a hello, and a bad joke. Sans sat down and motioned to the seat beside him. Frisk sat down and a long, drawn out fart noise sounded from the whoopie cushion underneath them. Frisk looked at Sans unamused, and Sans choked back a chuckle. They ordered, and Sans' mood turned serious.  
"alright then, you didn't come here for jokes, you came here for answers." He turned to look at Frisk, his eyelights had disappeared from his eyesockets, giving him an almost sinister look.  
"and believe me buddy, _we have a lot to talk about."_

 **Author's note:**  
 **I'm really sort this took a while, but shits coming up and chaos is ensuing. At least the next one might be easier to write heh. And im glad this one is so long, its kinda easier to write that way.**  
 **-CheckerboardCheshire**


End file.
